Mission Possible
Zechariah 4:1-14
August 12, 2012
Well, here we are.
A trip that began on February 12 with the sign up deadline
Has finally arrived.
I want to tell you church from the beginning here how proud I am of this group that has responded to the call.
They have been pushed extremely hard.
• Each has written and shared testimony.
• Each has given a Bible study to the group.
• They have been given a devotional study through the entire book
of Romans.
• They have been given numerous sermons to read and study.
• They have each been assigned Bible studies on the trip to prepare
for.
They have met every Sunday afternoon for the last six months
To plan, share, and pray fervently for this trip.
I don’t know of a single meeting that lasted less than two hours.
They have devoted themselves to this trip,
And I am so grateful to them for their tremendous attitude
And willingness to rise to the occasion.
In addition I wanted to say how thankful we all are to each of you.
Just to know that you have prayed for us.
I can’t tell you what an encouragement it has been
Simply to have you ask about the trip.
Not to mention your generosity to give and provide supplies.
Your excitement has continually encouraged this team.
I want to thank our prayer partners
Who have faithfully met with us and stood in the gap on our behalf,
Mine was Charlie Morris.
You will never know what an encouragement you have been.
And I especially want to thank Rita Harris,
She has accepted the role of liaison to keep the church informed
And her input to us and you has been priceless.
I want to thank Neal Hindman for agreeing to be our emergency contact,
In the event that someone here has to make decisions on our behalf. We are grateful to have a man who will seek God’s will and act accordingly.
But most of all I am thankful to God for this trip.
He has already used it in such a powerful way in so many lives,
That even if He returns tomorrow before we actually leave,
None of this will have been a waste.
(I would say, that if He returns, I would hope He does so before the 16 hour flight).
AND NOW THE TRIP IS UPON US
And this morning I want to share with you what has been
The most direct truth that God has been teaching me throughout this process and one that I have adopted as sort of a theme verse for this trip.
You may have already noticed it on many of the T-shirts,
But the verse we put there was Zechariah 4:6
“Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.”
So let’s look at it together.
Now, as in all studies of Scripture, you really need to know some background here to fully appreciate the chapter we are about to study.
The book of Zechariah is a post-exilic book,
Meaning it deals with events after the people returned from exile.
You may remember, it was Cyrus who let the people return,
And now the task is to rebuild the temple and ultimately the wall.
The specific setting for Zechariah’s prophecy is that
As they began to build the temple they hit a snag.
Ezra 4:1-7 “Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the LORD God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.” Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. Now in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated from Aramaic.”
The letter basically reminded the king of Persia that Israel
Used to be a strong nation with a people who defied kings in the past.
And the letter asked him to issue a decree to stop their work.
The result of the king receiving this letter was as follows:
Ezra 4:23-24 “Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by force of arms. Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.”
And there is the setting.
God’s people returned,
But now they have been opposed and ultimately the work has stopped.
The mission has hit a snag, and that brings us to our text.
There are 4 things I want you to see in this chapter.
#1 A DISCOURAGED PROPHET
Zechariah 4:1
What we find here is that angel comes to give Zechariah another vision.
(He has already had several)
But this time, unlike the previous,
We learn the condition in which the angel finds Zechariah.
Zechariah says the angel “roused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep.”
The implication here is that Zechariah
Had either grown apathetic, or discouraged.
Being asleep in Scripture often pictures a person who isn’t as focused and ready as they should be.
After giving the practical expectations of Christian living, Paul said:
Romans 13:11 “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.”
Paul wasn’t implying that believers were spending too much time in bed,
But rather that they were not paying attention,
That they had grown apathetic and complacent.
And it is very likely that Zechariah found himself there.
He knows what God wants – He wants the temple, but the snag in the process has certainly done a number towards discouraging Zechariah.
This can be very burdensome to the heart of a preacher.
It is difficult when a man who speaks for God sees no fruit of his labor.
The temptation is to get discouraged and seemingly give up.
Zechariah here has fallen into apathy.
• But the angel wakes him up.
• The angel confronts him and tells him to get on the alert.
And this angel is about to explain to this discouraged prophet
How this impossible mission is about to be accomplished.
A Discouraged Prophet
#2 A DIFFICULT VISION
Zechariah 4:2-5
So the angel wakes Zechariah up and gives him a vision
That he at least partly doesn’t understand.
“I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold”
This was not uncommon, and it symbolized that at least in part
Israel was the light of the world.
It ultimately and perfectly pictured Christ who would be the light of the world.
“with its bowl on the top of it”
This is a little different.
This lamp actually worked on a gravity flow system.
The bowl containing the oil was set on top of the lamp
So that oil would flow down into the lamp and keep the lamp burning.
“and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it;”
So this is a large lamp with a total of 49 flames.
Here is where the difficult part came for Zechariah.
(3) “also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.”
So now we not only have a lampstand, but we also have a bowl on top,
And here we find that that beside the bowl, we have two olive trees.
The figure is that there is a never ending supply of oil
Running from the tree, into the bowl and feeding the lamp.
SOMETHINGS IS SUPPLYING POWER TO THE LIGHT
Now it is obvious that Zechariah understood the lamp, the bowl, and the 49 spouts, but he did not understand these trees.
(4) “Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, “What are these, my lord?”
And the angel even seems a little surprised that he doesn’t know.
(5) “So the angel who was speaking with me answered and so to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.”
So we have A Discouraged Prophet, A Difficult Vision
#3 A DIVINE REMINDER
Zechariah 4:6-10
Now here is where the message gets very important to us.
(6) “Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.”
Now I love what God is doing here.
The message is for Zerubbabel, but who is it given to?
It is given to Zechariah, he is in turn supposed to relay it to Zerubbabel.
(Zerubbabel is the governor, he needs to hear this)
But the other person who needs to hear this is Zechariah.
(That’s why the angel appeared first to Zechariah and not straight to Zerubbabel)
And notice the message he is supposed to render.
“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” says the LORD of hosts.”
And we know what he means.
• This project you are working on.
• This difficult project…
• This project that has been stalled due to opposition…
This project will not be done in your own “might”.
This project will not be done by your own “power”.
This project will only be accomplished “by My Spirit”
Only God can accomplish this great project.
But through God it will be accomplished.
(7) “’What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”‘”
Zerubbabel faced a mountain – it was a figurative mountain.
The mountain was his project, it must have seemed impossible to move.
But God promised this mountain was coming down.
And WHEN this temple will be built,
(That is what God means by “he will bring forth the tops stone”)
And as the temple is finished there will be “shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”
NOW WHY GRACE?
Because all will realize that God did this by His divine power.
And so when it is built, He will get the glory.
Now, for a moment let’s rest in that truth.
• We face our mountains don’t we?
• We face our impossible missions.
But Jesus has always told us
Where the power to pull down a mountain comes from.
Matthew 17:20 “And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”
It doesn’t take strength to move a mountain, what does it take? FAITH
I can tell you the mountain this trip faced back in February.
A mountain of money – $64,000 to be exact.
And we had about 7 weeks to get it.
None of us had that kind of strength.
But that’s ok, because mountains aren’t moved by our power.
God’s Spirit moved in the hearts of His people
And in less than 6 weeks we had more than that.
And when the money came in, we didn’t praise our strength,
We didn’t praise the people, we praise the grace of God to provide!
God pulls down mountains by the power of His Spirit.
We cannot overemphasize the importance of the Spirit of God,
He is the One who makes impossible missions possible.
And incidentally, God has taught me the importance of this,
Not just for mission trips, but also for everyday life.
• You can’t be the spouse you need to be by your own power…
• You can’t be the parent you need to be by your own power…
• You can’t be the employee you need to be by your own power…
• You can’t be the Christian you need to be by your own power…
Everything must be done in the power of God’s Spirit.
That is what Jesus meant in John 15 when He told us to “abide in Him”
Saying “apart from Me, you can do nothing.”
And that is what God just told Zechariah to go tell Zerubbabel.
But that is not all that God has to say.
(8-9) “Also the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.”
This part of the message was not for Zerubbabel, this was for Zechariah.
It is apparent that Zechariah, along with his discouragement,
Was having a few doubts.
He was doubting whether or not he had heard God correctly.
That is easy to do.
• When you hear from God and you move forward
• And then it seems like nothing is going according to plan,
• You can sure wonder if you really heard from God or not.
And so God has a little confirmation for him.
“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.”
You may remember when God called Moses to go back to Pharaoh and lead his people out, Moses was a little apprehensive.
God had proof for him.
Exodus 3:12 “And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”
It was a confirmation after the fact.
That is the same type of thing God does here for Zechariah.
I am the one speaking to you.
You just trust Me, and when it is done, you’ll know it was me.
We all thought God called us to go,
But looking at that mountain of money can cause you to question.
But once the mountain moved, what tremendous confirmation!
That is what God is doing for Zechariah.
And yet God has one more thing to tell him.
(10) “For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel — these are the eyes of the LORD which range to and fro throughout the earth.”
And here we find another reason Zechariah was a little discouraged.
He was preaching to get the temple rebuilt,
But not only was their opposition from outside Israel,
But there was also scorn from within Israel.
In fact Ezra tells us that the people alive now who had seen Solomon’s temple were weeping over had pathetic this one was.
Ezra 3:12 “Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy,”
Haggai also recognized their scorn.
Haggai 2:1-9 “On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet saying, “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people saying, ‘Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? ‘But now take courage, Zerubbabel,’ declares the LORD, ‘take courage also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you people of the land take courage,’ declares the LORD, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ declares the LORD of hosts. ‘As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!’ “For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘ Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. ‘I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the LORD of hosts. ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the LORD of hosts.”
Haggai heard their scorn as well, but promised this temple would have more glory than Solomon’s. It did too – Jesus would preach in this temple.
But that is the scorn Zechariah has faced.
To many of the people this was “the day of small things”
And so even the negative and skeptics inside Jerusalem
Were discouraging this mission.
And there have even been some on this team who have faced that.
We will admit the support for this trip has been great.
But it hasn’t been universal.
(Some faced family members with scorn, some faced co-workers with scorn, some faced fellow Christians with scorn)
And scorn from a fellow believer cuts even deeper.
And it is apparent that their mocking had gotten to Zechariah too.
He was listening to the grumblers who mocked his mission.
But God said, “For who has despised the day of small things?”
That is to say, “Who do they think they are?”
Furthermore, “Why does their opinion matter?”
They may despise this mission, “But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel – these are the eyes of the Lord which range to and fro throughout the earth.”
God tells Zechariah that there may be some
Who despise what you are doing, but not God, He is glad.
And really, if God is pleased with the mission
Does it matter what anyone else thinks?
Paul told the Philippians
Philippians 1:27-30 “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents — which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.”
Peter told the scattered believers
1 Peter 4:12-14 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”
And that is the Divine reminder that God gives here to Zechariah.
Zechariah was discouraged because he didn’t know how this mission would ever be accomplished, God said it will be by My Spirit.
Zechariah was discouraged because he wasn’t sure he had heard God correctly, God said, when the mission is accomplished you’ll know for sure.
Zechariah was discouraged because there were some who opposed his mission, God said, don’t fret them, this mission makes me glad.
Those are good things to remember when you go on mission.
Those are good things to remember when you face a mountain.
God can do it. God will do it. And God will be pleased with it.
A Discouraged Prophet, A Difficult Vision, A Divine Reminder
#4 A DIRECT EXPLANATION
Zechariah 4:11-14
Zechariah still hasn’t forgotten about those two trees.
Now, the angel did answer, Zechariah just didn’t understand the answer.
(11) “Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?”
But apparently the Angel thinks he should know by now
And doesn’t answer.
(12) “And I answered the second time and said to him, “What are the two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes, which empty the golden oil from themselves?”
Again he asks, who are these branches that carry the oil?
And the angel almost seems surprised that he doesn’t know still.
(13) “So he answered me, saying, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.”
It’s almost like the angel said, “You still don’t know?”
(14) “Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth.”
These two branches that let oil flow through them to the bowl that supplies the candle, these are the “two anointed ones”
These are two selected, spirit-filled men that God has chosen.
They are also faithful men for they “are standing by the Lord”
They are Zerubbabel and Joshua.
They are men that God has filled with His Spirit.
They are men that are faithful to God to fulfill His word.
And here then is the point.
• You have a lamp that must shine, but in order to do so it needs oil.
• You have a source of oil in the tree,
• But notice that the oil is flowing through these two branches, namely Zerubbabel and Joshua.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
God is accomplishing His purpose, by His Spirit,
But He is doing it through His people.
The fact we are reminded of?
God uses His people.
His people can’t do it on their own,
Their own power and strength won’t cut it.
But when God’s people are filled with God’s Spirit and are faithful to God, He can move mountains through them.
Now group, we saw this.
God supplied all the funds we needed for this trip.
• One week we saw a check for $1500 on Monday.
• On Tuesday we were given four kruggerand totaling $6700
• On Wednesday we were given a check for $8000
At one point late in March we did the figuring
And God had supplied over $1600 a day for this trip.
But did God just drop it from heaven?
HOW DID HE SUPPLY IT?
He did it through His people.
BUT GROUP you may remember, I told you then when the money arrived,
That the purpose of that money was simply to show you
What God could do through His people.
Now, I am encouraging you to be the people He works through in Africa.
You must be filled with His Spirit.
You must be faithful to Him.
God works through His people.
And that is the message of God to Zechariah.
It is also the message that Zechariah turned and preached to the people.
Would you like to know the effect that sermon had on Israel?
Ezra 5:1-2 “When the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them, then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and the prophets of God were with them supporting them.”
Listen to Haggai.
Haggai 1:14-15 “So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.”
When God’s people realized
That God could accomplish great things through them
And that pleasing Him was more important than pleasing the crowd.
They went back to work and the mountain was moved.
The temple was rebuilt.
The application is obvious.
• We’ve already seen God use His people to move one mountain.
• God used this church and other believers to fund this trip.
Now, mission team, let God use you to move another one.
Go and be light in the darkness of Africa.
Go and supply oil to the lamps of those churches.
Let God use you to build up His people in Zimbabwe.
But be filled with the Spirit and faithful to God,
For your power and strength are nothing without His.
John 15:1-11 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
That was Jesus way of saying:
“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit” says the Lord”
